Why I Oughta...

  The season is here. The Yard and Garden Season, that is. Each Spring arrives and I’m OVERWHELMED by what I need to do, should do, have to do, might do in and around our garden. The arrival of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals at the big box stores and nurseries just add to the strong urge to GET GOING out there. But, over the years, I’ve learned that I need to prioritize. And plan. And give myself something to measure-up against, so I know that I’ve accomplished what I thought I needed to focus on each season. The first year I did one was 2019 and I've done one every year. Here is 2020 .  2021 .  2022 .  And last year - 2023 .  Each year, I score myself against the 25 items that I picked out.  Last year, in addition to scoring (22 out of 25 marked 'complete' ), I also wrote up a list of 10 takeaways/lessons learned that have become important in thinking about my path forward.  In that list of 10 takeaways, I included things like:  no more shade trees (for now)

Just a week ago, I spotted some issues in the corner of our front porch bed .  It is a low-spot and because of that was taking on some water from the downspouts.  But, the front part of that bed was also showing some signs of turf coming back.  This was a small extension that I carved out of the lawn last year.  And...it turns out...I must not have pulled out/dug out all of the turf.   I decided to kill-two-birds in this project.  (Well...half of a project since I didn't have enough materials to finish it.) First, I laid down some cardboard to smother the grass.  I cut holes for the handful of tulips in the area, then spread out some thick, unpainted cardboard on top of the turf.  I then went back to the pile of topsoil and clay that I excavated from the Pizza Oven foundation and spread that on top of the cardboard.   I started by the property-line edge and went north.  Below are a few photos showing the progress - first with the cardboard and topsoil + clay.   I initially only di

Last Summer (June), I extended and (attempted) to clean up the front edge of our 'front porch bed' along the south property line .  The edge had been creeping 'inward' over the years, so I decided to use a shovel to remove as much of the grass as I could, carve off a clean edge and sort-of 'extend' the swoop of that bed a little bit into the lawn.    If you look back at the photos in this post , you'll see a nice, grass-free edge that I planted with bedding plants ( dwarf, French Marigolds ) and Dusty Millers .   By September, the dwarf (French) Marigolds took off and filled in the new border.  They looked great and were thick/full of oranges, reds and yellows .  Behind those annuals went a colony of Summer Beauty Alliums .  Backed by some small Green Velvet Boxwoods to extend the existing short hedge of boxwoods.   All was good last year.   This year, I've already started to clean up this bed - cutting down grasses and raking out some of the season

I've organized my approach to the yard and garden season a few ways the past couple of years.  First, I think about some of the potential options for where/how I want to prioritize.  In terms of effort, budget, time and thinking.   Then, I narrow those down to create some focus.  What falls out of those initial priorities is my annual to-do list that helps keep me honest in terms of what I am trying to accomplish.  Last year - I did an early look at some priorities as a way to organize my thoughts .  A few days ago, I marked 20 years of Blogging and in that post, I referenced Paul Graham; and how he has said the act of writing generates ideas.  That's what is at play here.  I need to sketch out an approach and with it, will come some clarity. This is different than my annual to-do list.  Here's last year's scorecard - which is informative in terms of what worked/what didn't work/what's left remaining.  But, this is more about sketching out a list of priorities.

Beyond the pizza-oven build, my mind has been thinking about the front yard for 2024.  I went ham on the IB2DWs extended bed last Fall with my new conifer garden , but I've been reading and watching things on the Web that have me thinking about the rest of our yard.   If I'm being honest, our front yard isn't bad. Not at all.  It is, however...traditional.  It is what everybody in the suburbs has: a foundation bed with a corner tree and a stretch of front lawn from that bed down to the sidewalk.  Followed by a turf parkway between the sidewalk and street.  Over the years, I've done a few things:  planned for some tree planting .  Tucked a Saratoga Ginkgo , some Stachys Hummelo and Sesleria Greenlees into the small island bed by the driveway.  And extended the front porch bed a bit this past year .   The rest is a blank canvas.   Some of the things that I've come across/influenced me a bit include this piece from Garden Design focused on curb appeal  that talks thr

Last Summer (June 2022), I bought three Little Lime Hydrangea (a dwarf cultivar of Limelight ) and planted them in front of the Belgian Fence of Apple trees.  They were small, but produced a handful of blooms in late July that first growing season . Fast-forward a year and these three flowering shrubs have changed quite a bit.  They're thicker, more full and...FULL of blooms this year.  See below for a photo of their current (mid-August) state: These are a really good solve for this spot - they're at the back of the bed, but with the Belgian Fence behind, I couldn't use a full-height shrub here as they'd obscure the espalier.  So, this dwarf version is perfect.   It also has me thinking about how I could re-use these in other spots that are mid-bed.  Further back on this same northside of the backyard, there are spots.  And, maybe even IB2DWS?

And the time has come...for the post about the very last shrub of the year.  The year of shrubs.  That the 2022 yard and garden headline:  The Year of Shrubs.   My number one priority item on my to-do list was to 'focus on shrubs' by adding a variety of mid-sized shrubs to the backyard .  I started the [garden diary] season with shrubs and the very last planting of the year is going to be about a shrub.  This one is a new (to me) deciduous shrub called Lemony Lace Elderberry. Sambucus racemosa. This one is from Proven Winners . Ever wish our popular Black Lace elderberry came in a sunny bright yellow? We are happy to oblige: Lemony Lace offers finely dissected foliage but in a cheery gold color to really light up your landscape . This North American native produces big clusters of white flowers in early spring before the foliage emerges, then bright yellow leaves take over, edged in red. As the foliage ages, it turns an attractive chartreuse . (Emphasis, mine) This is my f

The mornings are already cooler and smell different.  The days are getting shorter.  The Kentucky Bluegrass in our lawn is starting to bounce back and emerge from dormancy.  The kids are back in school.  That means that the growing season is entering the final stretch - Late Summer/Early Fall.  And, with the calendar turning over to September, I thought I'd do a quick check-in on how I have been doing against my 2022 yard and garden priorities .  We typically get our first frost sometime in mid-October , so that means we have six-or-so weeks left to get busy before putting the garden to bed.  Like I've done in the past, I started the year with a list of 25 items that I considered priorities .  The list serves as a guide and a check on what is most important to get done each year.   Let's see where we are as of September 1st, 2022.    I've done this late-season check-in before ( here's 2020's version ) and I think this is a good way to shortlist what *can* be don

Shrub exploration post number five (today) focuses on the north side bed that is bordered by the firewood rack on one side and our Dawn Redwood on the other .  This 'thinking out loud' exploration post on shrubs follows on the previous four including the lilac replacement, a mixed evergreen/dwarf hydrangea planting, the base on our espaliered Linden trees and just yesterday, a mixed privacy border by our fire pit area.   Today is a spot that I talked about in my original 'shrubs as my #1 priority' post in March that - per the plan - calls for a series of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum .  Looking at that area in the plan, you'll see a row of Viburnum below: What is in this area right now?  Just a couple of trees and a scrub shrub that we inherited.  Orange oval = London Planetree.  Yellow oval = edge of our Dawn Redwood.  Red oval = Contorted Walkingstick tree.  You can see the big, scrub bush there in the middle, too. Knowing that I'm looking to transplant t